


Bodyguard

by PinkPandorafrog



Series: Advent Calendar 2020 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27819019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkPandorafrog/pseuds/PinkPandorafrog
Summary: Darcy's never needed a bodyguard before. Didn't think she needed one now but SOMEONE disagreed.
Relationships: Happy Hogan/Darcy Lewis
Series: Advent Calendar 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035660
Comments: 11
Kudos: 89





	Bodyguard

**Author's Note:**

> December 1's prompt was starlight.

Darcy eyed the man sitting in the driver’s seat, steering the borrowed car down the dark highway. “You know I don’t need a bodyguard, right?”

“I don’t know that.” Happy glanced at her for the briefest of moments before his eyes flew back to the ribbon of asphalt. “In fact, the risk assessment pretty much stated the opposite.” Which was why, of course, he was there.

She sighed. Not that she’d expected him to agree with her. They’d already been on the road for a few hours, so it was a bit late for all of that anyway. Guilt pricked at her, and she picked at the thread sticking out of the seam at the side of her jeans. “Don’t you have better things to do with your time? Your own family to visit and all that?”

“I do have my own family,” he said wryly. No mention that it would be a better option. Maybe that’s what this was. He needed an excuse not to go visit his family for the holiday. SI certainly had other members on their security team who could be out here with her.

“I don’t know that we’ll be able to get a hotel.” Everything had probably been booked for months. Darcy always stayed with her parents when she went to visit them, but they really only had one spare room, not two.

“We’ll figure it out.” Then again, given that he’d been Tony’s bodyguard for the longest, this probably wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to couch surf or find somewhere different to sleep.

They spent several miles in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Despite the lingering guilt, Darcy was glad that it was Happy going with her instead of one of the other security people. She knew Happy, at least. This wasn’t even the first time they’d traveled together, though it was the first time with him as her bodyguard. The first time she’d needed a bodyguard.

She leaned her head back against the seat, her eyes fixed out the window. “There’s a little pull-out up ahead. We should stop, stretch our legs.” She’d made this drive enough to know it pretty much by heart, and that was the pull-out she always stopped at. There was a lake there, down a steep embankment. It was much too cold to even think about swimming, but it was pretty, especially on a clear night like this.

“How far?”

“About five miles, on the right.” They’d been driving next to the lake for a while, a thin strip of trees and bush separating them from the actual water.

“What here?” he asked after about five minutes.

“Yeah.”

Happy slowed the car and flipped on the indicator before smoothly steering into the small gravel area. 

Darcy barely waited for him to stop before opening the door and stepping outside. It was cold and clear, her feet crunching on the loose grit. She let the door swing shut as she took a couple steps toward the edge of the little pull-off.

There was way too much light pollution in New York to see much in the way of stars, but out here they went on forever.

Happy’s door opened and closed behind her, and she heard him move to stand next to her. “Haven’t been able to see anything like this for a while.”

“Yeah.” She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the cold winter air. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, but this is one of the best things about coming out this way.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

She hadn’t grabbed her coat from the backseat, and was quickly regretting her decision to step outside in just her hoodie. A chill crawled up her spine, and she clutched her arms around her. “It’s cold.”

He apparently had more foresight than her, because he looked perfectly snuggly in his long overcoat. He moved behind her, and she startled a little as her shoulder blades brushed against his chest. He drew the open sides of the coat around her, tucking her in against him. It was admittedly quite a bit warmer, both from the press of his body and the warmth of his coat.

“Thanks.” She twisted her neck to the side to see him staring out over the water.

“Mm-hmm,” was his response.

His coat smelled like his aftershave, which really wasn’t a surprise. “You smell nice,” she told him.

“You too.” She swore she felt his nose stir in the back of her hair.

He kept his arms around her, obviously to keep the heat in, and it was nice. Nicer than it probably had any right to be. He was doing her a favor and being a bro, and she was thinking about the way his hands splayed across her stomach, the way they could move over other parts of her, or slip down… She’d been single for entirely too long, and she blamed that.

Eventually she sighed. “We should probably get going.” As really nice as it was to stand out there with him under the stars, her legs were getting cold and her parents would probably start to worry.

His thumb brushed over her stomach before he slipped away.

“You don’t have to drive, you know.” The car had been borrowed from SI’s garage because safety or whatever, but she totally had her license. She hadn’t asked him to do the driving, figuring it was something to do with how he’d been a chauffeur in a previous life, or maybe something-something security. But they were the only ones out there.

“I like driving.” His hand passed over her back before he went around to the driver’s side to get in.

He turned on the radio to what sounded like eighties Christmas hits, but Darcy was into it. She sang along, earning some amused looks as they sped through the night.

Her parents always decorated the front of the house with blue lights. Only blue. This year was no different, though it looked like some of the strands had been replaced with LEDs.

Happy pulled into the driveway and shut the car off. He looked at her like he was waiting for her to make a move.

“Normally I go in and visit for a bit first, then come out and get my stuff later, but I really don’t want to come back out in this.” It was cold enough that it felt like it was about half an hour away from freezing, and smoke curled up invitingly from the chimney.

“That’s fine.” Happy popped the trunk, and they got out.

Darcy did grab her jacket this time. By the time she got around to the trunk, Happy had pulled out her backpack as well as his bag. When she reached for it, he pulled it out of easy reach and shut the trunk.

It wasn’t worth making a thing over. Instead she headed up the sidewalk to the front door. She knocked briefly before turning the knob and pushing it open, since her parents were waiting for her. “Hello!” she called as she stepped in onto the foyer’s speckled laminate.

“Hello, darling.” Darcy’s mom came around the corner with a warm smile on her face, arms outstretched. “How was your trip?” They shared an embrace.

“Good.” Darcy stepped back and turned to give her dad a hug, as he’d materialized behind her mom. “Really good. Mom, Dad,” she started as she stepped away from him. “This is-”

“Harold,” Happy cut in quickly. That was a surprise, since no one ever called him by his government name. His hand brushed over Darcy’s elbow, like he was reassuring her he was there.

“Hello, dear,” Mom greeted with the same warm smile she’d given Darcy. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Debbie.” She went in for the hug, leaving Darcy to raise her eyebrows.

“Oliver.” Dad shook Happy’s hand as soon as Mom stepped away.

“He’s my…” Darcy’s lips pressed into a flat line as Happy took a step closer, until her shoulder brushed his chest. “Bodyguard.” She hadn’t told her parents about the whole bodyguard thing. She didn’t want to worry them.

“Bodyguard?” Dad echoed.

Mom shook her head. “Sweetie, it’s okay. We’ve been waiting for this for some time.” She exchanged a glance with Dad. “I mean, he’s a bit older than we maybe thought, but it’s completely fine. Why don’t you take your stuff up to your room, and then we can have a drink?”

Darcy’s mouth fell open as she looked between her parents and her bodyguard. “That’s not-”

“I can sleep on the couch,” Happy said at the same time. His eyes swung to Darcy.

“Nonsense,” Mom cut in. “It’s great! I’m glad to see you looking so happy. Show Harold up to your room and get settled in, and we’ll get something together to nibble on.”

Darcy looked at Happy, somewhat bemused, and he shrugged. Without another word, she turned to lead him upstairs to her old room. “Sorry, dude,” she told him with a wince as soon as the door closed. “I should’ve known the boyfriend thing would be easier to deal with than the bodyguard thing.”

“It’s fine,” he assured her as he set their bags down at the foot of the bed. “I’ve had worse things assumed about me.”

“Thanks for that.” She moved close enough to gently nudge him with her elbow. “Still, though, one bed.” It normally seemed like a perfectly fine bed, but with him in the room with her, it suddenly looked tiny.

“It’s fine.” His deep voice seemed just a little lower, sending a hot twist through her belly.

Okay, she needed to stop that. She gave him a bright smile. “Let’s go see if we can’t find something to eat.”

“Yeah.” He took his coat off and draped it over the bed before following her from the room. This would be fine, right?


End file.
